In my previous blog posts I have been focusing more on the
research and theoretical part of genetic engineering and cloning. What I haven’t
really focused on is how a genetically engineered person or clone would fit
into our society. Think about it, our society even if we like to think
otherwise, is not very welcoming to those who are different. I know some people
are welcoming, but as a mass if they feel like they are being threatened or
that something exists that goes against everything they believe in they will
turn against it.
Up till now just the mention of genetically engineered
people or clones scares people or at least makes them uneasy. Cloning and
genetically engineering people has never been accomplished before which is exactly
the reason why people don’t trust it. We as human tend to cling on to what we
know, so when something comes around that doesn’t make sense to us we don’t
want to be open minded.
You may ask, if clones and genetically engineered humans are
in fact humans why should we not trust them or welcome them into our society? As
a matter of fact I ask myself the same question. To put this case in to
perspective I want to compare it to artificial insemination. When I refer to
artificial insemination in this case I refer to a women getting inseminated by
the sperm of a person she does not know and is a currently a single mother. A
few years ago, when artificial insemination started to come about, plenty of
people were against it and people are still against it. Some may say it is not
natural to do such things. The process in itself is viewed as unnatural but
what about the person that is born through these means? How do they fit into
our society? You would never be able to tell if a person was created through
natural reproduction (in other words from intercourse between a man and a
women) or through artificial insemination. But, as soon as it is known that a
person was created through artificial insemination people will automatically
have a different view of that person. I have seen cases where the child suffers
greatly because they don’t know where exactly they come from. Yes, they know
who their mother is but what about their father. The mother would not even be
able to give the name of the father to the child. So now imagine if a person
was not even born from a mother.
Genetically engineered people or clones would have neither a
biological father nor mother. So if they are introduced into our society they
would not feel like they belong. Our society in majority is based on families
and the notion of us having roots and ancestors, clones and genetically
engineered people would have neither. If society didn’t shun them and learned
to accept clones and genetically engineered people would they feel comfortable
themselves being around people who have lineage and history? Either way, clones
and genetically engineered humans would have a hard time assimilating to our
norms and customs when they have no history which is what makes us humans and
what makes up our society.
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